Roughening device for bookbinding and covering machines



Aug. 28, 1951 E. ACKLEY ET AL ROUGHENING DEVICE FOR BOOKBINDING AND COVRING MACHINES Filed Feb. 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Aug. 28, 1951 Filed Feb. 2l, 1950 R. E. AcKLl-:Y ET Al. 2,565,583

DEVICE FOR BOOKBINDING AND COVERING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ROUGHENING ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 28, 1951 ROUGHENING DEVICE FOR BOOKBNDING AND COVERING MACHINES Raymond E. Ackley, Evanston, and Arthur J. lFiedler, Chicago, Ill., assignors to W. F. Hall Printing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application February 21, 1950, Serial No. 145,432

18 Claims.

This invention relates to a roughening device adapted for use on book binding and covering machines to render the back of a signature group or book more receptive to glue.

In the use of roughening devices on book binding and covering machines, signature groups or books to be covered are engaged in a vertical plane between coacting pairs of book clamps provided on an endless conveyor which travels continuously over and adjacent the roughening device to cause the teeth on a rotatable disc to cut into and roughen the backs of the signaturev groups or books. After the roughening operation glue is applied to the roughenedback surface of each signature group or book, a cover is applied to the adhesively coated back, and the covered book is then discharged from the machine.

It has heretofore been the practice of manufacturers in the printing and binding industry to employ the use of a roughening device embodying a rotatable roughening disc formed with an annular groove to receive a flexible steel blade provided with hacksaw teeth. 'It is well known in this art that the teeth on the steel blades become dull and inoperative after a few hours of operation, that a considerable amount of time and money is expended in replacing the worn blades, and that the blades do not act to produce uniform products.

Briefly, the present invention contemplates the provision of a roughening device comprising a disc journaled for rotation about a vertical axis, the upper face of the disc being provided with a plurality of cemented-carbide cutters to trim and roughen the backs of the signature groups or books. The cemented-carbide cutters are arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of the disc, with the cutting tips of the cutters equally spaced from the face of the disc when a uniform flat surface is desired on the backs of the signature groups or books to be covered. The backs of the signature groups or books may, if desired, be formed with transverse grooves arranged at spaced intervals by merely locating the tips of the cutters in dierent planes, as hereinafter described in connection with the drawings.

A backing strip is secured on a carriage mounted for sliding movement in a horizontal plane above the face of the rotatable roughening disc, one face of the strip being disposed for sliding engagement with the inner face of signature groups and adapted to coact with the cutters during the trimming and roughening operation. The backing strip is preferably formed of a relative- 2 ly hard material, such as bronze, and chromium plated along one face thereof to provide a smooth surface for sliding engagement with the signature groups. When a new backing strip is secured to the carriage, the cutting disc is rst moved toward the adjacent face of the strip to cause the cutters to cut a groove approximately one-eighth of an inch deep extending across the face of the strip; after which, one edge of the groove at the juncture with the chromium plated face of the strip serves as a cutting edge and coacts with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of the signature groups or books. As the cutting edge on the strip becomes worn and rounded the carriage is Vmoved a few thousandths of an inch toward the disc to cause the cutters to remove some of the stock from a side wall of the groove in the strip to thus forma new cutting edge on the strip to coact with the cutters in the trimming and roughening operation.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a roughening device which is relatively simple and inexpensive in construction and which may be operated over relatively long periods of time without replacement of parts.

This invention further contemplates the provision of a backing strip provided with a cutting edge which may be sharpened from time to time bymerely adjusting the position of the strip relative to the cutter disc.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a backing strip with a chromium plated face disposed to slidably engage signature groups or books and adapted to be formed with a relatively sharp wear-resistant cutting edge to coact with the cemented-carbide cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of signature groups or books to be covered.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved means for mounting and driving the cutter disc and for adjusting the position of the disc relative to the backing strip.

This invention embodies other novel features, details o1" construction and arrangement of parts which are hereinafter set forth in the specication and claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view illustrating a roughening device embodying features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of same.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional View taken along the line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken along the line l-li of Fig. 1. l

Fig. is a front elevational view illustrating the means employed for mounting and driving the rotatable roughening disc.

Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken along the line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of this invention, the roughening device is shown as comprising a dovetail guide member 6 secured to the lower face of a rail 1 of a conventional book binding or covering machine by means of cap screws 8. Patent 1,244,861 granted October 30, 1917 to Juengst and Patent 1,248,252 granted November 27, 1917 to Bredenberg disclose machines of the type on which the roughening device may be employed. A carriage 9, formed with a dovetail groove II, is slidably mounted upon the guide member 6. To insure a snug sliding engagement of the carriage upon the guide member, one side of the dovetail groove l I is provided with gib I2 engaged by adjustment screws I3.

A carriage feed screw I4 is engaged at its one end within a threaded aperture IG formed in the carriage 9 and is journaled at its other end in a bearing I1 secured to the rail 1 by cap screws I8. A worm gear I 9 is keyed to the journaled end of the feed screw for meshing engagement with a worm 2| keyed to a manually operable carriage control shaft 22 which is also journaled in the bearing I1. The feed screw I4 is held against axial displacement by a thrust collar 23, and the shaft 22 is held against axial displacement by a thrust collar 24. The outer end of the shaft 22 is provided with a suitable hand knob 26 for use in manually rotating the shaft.

A recess 21 is formed along the outer side of the carriage 9 to receive a backing strip 28 which is secured in position by means of flat-head cap screws 29. The backing strip is preferably formed of metal or metal alloy, such as bronze, and chromium plated along its outer face 3I to provide a smooth hard surface for frictional engagement with the inner sides of signature groups 32. The signature groups are engaged between book clamps 33 mounted on a conventional endless book binding or covering conveyor (not shown) A cutter disc 36, comprising a body 31 and a flanged ring 38, is secur-ed to one end of a spindle 39 by means of cap screws 4I. A plurality of cemented-carbide cutters 42 are secured on the disc between the outer periphery of the body 31 and the inner face of a ring ange 43 by means of individual set screws 44. The inner end of each cutter is engaged by an adjustment screw 45 threaded through the flange ring 38 to adjust the positions of the tips of the cutters relative to the outer face of the disc 36. The cemeted-carbide cutters 42 may, if desired, be of the type manufactured and sold on the market under the trademark Carboloy. The spindle 35 is journaled in anti-friction bearings (not shown) mounted within a spindle housing 41. The spindle housing is provided with a flat base 48 formed with a plurality of slots 49 to receive cap screws 50. The cap screws are threaded into a pair of upright brackets 5I-5I which are secured to a frame 52 by cap screws 53.' The frame 52 may be mounted on or adjacent the book binding or covering machine. A pair of studs 54-54 are provided on the base 43 of the housing 41 for sliding engagement in apertures 55.-56 formed in a motormounting plate 51. An electric motor 58 is secured to the motor-mounting plate 51 by bolts 59,.and a pulley 6I is secured to the motor shaft B2 to engage and drive a pair of V-belts 5.3 leading 4 to a pulley 64 keyed to the lower end of the spindle 39.

A nut 55 is threaded onto the upper end of an adjustment screw 65 for engagement against the lower edge of the spindle housing base 48, the upper face of the nut being recessed at S1 to prevent rotation of the nut relative to the base. A ball thrust bearing 68 is provided on the lower end of the screw 56 to engage in a cup-shaped recess formed in a bearing plate 69 secured to the frame 52. A worm gear 1I is keyed to the screw 66 for meshing engagement with a worm 12 keyed to a control shaft which is journaled in a bearing 14 secured to the frame 52. A suitable hand wheel 16 is secured to the outer end of the shalt 13.

A belt tensioning screw 11 is threaded through the motor mounting plate 51 for engagement against the spindle housing base 43 to adjust the position of the motor mounting plate along the studs 54-54 and thus vary the tension of the V-belts 63. A lock nut 18 is threaded onto the end of the screw 11 to prevent accidental displacement of the motor mounting plate.

In the operation of the device thus described, the signature groups or books to be covered are conveyed along the chromium plated face 3l of the backing strip 28 toward the cemented-carbide cutters 42 mounted upon the cutter disc When a new backing strip 28 is mounted upon the carriage 9 the cutter disc 35 is moved toward the backing strip to cause the cemented-carbide cutters 42 to cut an arcuate groove 30 in the outer face of the strip to define a relatively sharp cutting edge 8| at the juncture of the chromium plated face 3l and the side wall of the groove. The groove is preferably formed to a depth of approximately one-eighth of an inch. As the signature groups or books are conveyed along the chromium plated face 3| of the backing strip toward the cutters 42, the cutters are rotated in a direction to first cut through the paper along the book back and then pass by the cutting edge 8| and through the annular groove Bil. When the cutting edge 3| on the backing strip 2S becomes worn and rounded, the hand knob 255 on the control shaft 22 is turned to move the carriage 9 a few thousandths of an inch toward the axis of rotation of the cutting disc, thus causing the cutters 42 to remove some of the metal from the side of the groove defining the cutting edge 8 I. The carriage may thus be moved step by step toward the axis of rotation of the cutting disc to provide a new cutting edge 8| on the backing strip 2g without stopping the operation of the binding and covering machine. When the groove has been cut to a width of several inches, the backing strip 28 may be quickly removed from the carriage 9 and replaced by a new backing strip.

The cutter disc 36 is preferably provided with 36 cemented-carbide cutters and is rotated at approximately 6,000 revolutions per minute. When a uniform surface is desired along a book back, the outer edges of the cutters are uniformly spaced from the face of the cutter disc. When it is found desirable to form transverse grooves at spaced intervals along the book backs, the tips of the cutters disposed in one group segment of the cutting disc are at a greater distance from the face of the cutting disc 36 than the group of cutters in another segment of the disc. The

group of cutters projecting farthest from the facey grooves in the book back during the' trimming and roughening operation.

While this invention has been shown in but one form, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited but is susceptible of various changes and modications without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention.

We claim as our invention:

l. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage to be mounted for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, and means to move said carriage relative to said cutter disc. v

2. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage to be mounted for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, and means to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc.

3. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage to be mounted for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionany engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, means to move said carriage relative to said cutter disc, and means to move said cutter disc into and out of operative cutting engagement with said backing strip. Y

4. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a lconveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage to be mounted for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books :,4

mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books alongtheir inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, means to move said carriage relative to said cutter disc, means to move said cutter disc into and out of operative cutting engagement with said backing strip. and means to rotate said cutter disc.

5. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage, means to support said carriage for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with 6 said backing strip to trim and roughen'the backs of the books, and means to move said carriage relative to said cutter disc. i

6. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage, means to support said carriage for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, and means to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc.

'7. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, a carriage, means to support said carriage for reciprocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, means to move said carriage relative to said cutter disc, and means to move said cutter disc into and out of operative cutting engagement with said backing strip.

8. In a roughening device for a book binding and covering machine having a conveyor for holding books with their backs exposed, `a carriage, means to support said carriage for recip-V rocative movement adjacent to and along the line of travel of books mounted on the conveyor, a backing strip secured to and extending along said carriage to frictionally engage the books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of the books, means to move said carriage relative to said cutter disc, means to move said cutter disc into and out of operative cutting engagement with said backing strip, and means to rotate said cutter disc.

9. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, and means to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs.

10. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said car-f riage to frctionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, means to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs, the outer edge of the backing strip having a chromium plated surface.

11. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books,

a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and l arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, means to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs, the outer edge of the backing strip having a chromium plated surface, said cutters being of the cemented-carbide type.

12. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, means to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs, and a plurality of adjustment screws threaded through said disc for engagement against the inner ends of their respective cutters to vary the distance the cutters project from the face of the disc.

13. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, means to rotate said cutter disc, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, and means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books.

14. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, means to rotate said cutter disc, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and. concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, and a feed screw to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs.

15. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, means to rotate said cutter disc, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, and a feed screw to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs, said backing strip being formed of bronze and having its front edge chromium plated.

16. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their backs, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, means to rotate said cutter disc, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle, about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming `and roughening the backs of books, and a feed screw to move said carriage in a plane normal to the axis of rotation of said cutter disc to provide the outer edge of the backing strip with a new sharp cutting edge to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening book backs, said backing strip being formed of bronze and having its front edge chromium plated, said cutters being of the cemented-carbide type.

17. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement, a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their' provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge 'Y of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, said last mentioned means comprising a bearing housing for said cutter disc, a bracket to support said bearing housing, and an adjustment screw to vary the position of said bearing housing relative to said bracket.

18. In a roughening device of the character described, a carriage supported for reciprocative movement. a backing strip mounted on said carriage to frictionally engage books along their inner faces and adjacent their back, a rotatable cutter disc disposed to coact with said backing strip to trim and roughen the backs of books, a plurality of cutters mounted on said disc and arranged in a circle about and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc, means to move said cutter disc toward said carriage to bring the ends of the cutters into cutting engagement with the adjacent face of the backing strip to form an arcuate groove in the face of the strip and thus provide a sharp cutting edge on the outer edge of the strip to coact with the cutters in trimming and roughening the backs of books, said last mentioned means comprising a bearing housing for said cutter disc, a bracket to support said bearing housing, an adjustment screw to vary the position of said bearing housing relative to said bracket, and an electric motor supported on said bearing housing to drive said cutter disc.

RAYMOND E. ACKLEY. ARTHUR J. FIEDLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 934,090 McLean Sept. 14, 1909 1,167,999 Hendee Jan. 11, 1916 1,244,861 Juengst Oct. 30, 1917 1,248,252 Bredenberg Nov. 27, 1917 2,287,187 Masse June 23, 1942 2,517,668 Howald Aug. 8, 1950 

